


Fallen under

by ShimmeringSunset



Category: The Last of Us, The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, F/F, Fear of Death, Hurt/Comfort, Pain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26745463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShimmeringSunset/pseuds/ShimmeringSunset
Summary: Dina Woodwart hates Ellie Williams with a passion.Or at least, it's what she tells herself.But now, they're both survivors of an horrible bus crash.Maybe she should have stayed home instead.-------‐------------Au/short story
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 132





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I'm new here !
> 
> Before we start into the story, i wanted to let you know that english is not my main tongue, so I'm sorry for the quality of the story, but it shouldn't be too bad.
> 
> I'm a sucker for tragedy, but I suck at writting long stories. So I have many ideas that I will turn into small stories (about 3 chapters or so)
> 
> So without further ado, here's the story:

If you ever were to ask Dina Woodwart about Ellie Williams, she'd scoff and tell you to fuck off.

Change was a constant in Dina's life. She was used to it, loved-no, needed the wheel to keep turning, the familiarity of a routine kept her in a dead-like state, going over and over the same motions. Change was something that kept her on her toes and at the very edge of life.

But there was one thing that never changed, and she wished it never did.

She absolutely despiced Ellie Williams.

The girl had been the bane of her existence ever since she stepped foot in the classroom, looking all moody and pouty.

On normal terms, she wouldn't have given the girl the time of the day. Students come and go, it was nothing out of the ordinary. The girl was a bit of a loner, she ate alone at lunch and spent her time with her nose glued to a book or a comic.

It didn't bother Dina that many were pining over the artsy, broody musician (because yes, that looser just had to be a guitar player too). It also didn't bother Dina that Ellie seemed to hang out with a different girl every week.

It also didn't bother her that Ellie Williams was a 15 out of 10 on her personal beauty scale.

What bothered her was the fact that Ellie Williams was the most infuriating person she had ever met in her life. Ellie, with her stupid smirk, her stupid tattoo, and her stupid scar. The girl knew how to push her over the edge and rile her up with nothing but a shit eating grin.

She hated the fact that she was smart. She was in fact so smart it was always a challenge to top her counterpart in term of grades. Sometimes, Ellie would come up on top, and sometimes, it was Dina. Ellie would roll her green eyes at her and show her infamous smirk without a care in the world.

She particularly hated the fact that Ellie had the hugest crush on her.

It wasn't a secret either. Ellie had practically blurted it out in front of the whole cafeteria.

"You're in my way, looser." Dina had screeched, grip tightening on her dirty tray. "Why are you always following me around? Don't you have a group home to go back to ?" She had intended to hurt the girl, wanted to see her break down and cry, and maybe, just maybe, she would step down from whatever throne she thought she deserved.

But Ellie had flashed a pearly white smile, this cool, lazy stretch of her mouth that made her stomach twist and knot.

"I only wanted to see you." She had breathed, blocking her view of the cafeteria with that lanky, athletic body of hers.

Dina had groaned, had heard the snickers of her friends behind her. Had jumped on the curiosity train.

"And why, pray tell, did you want to see me?" She had hissed, knuckles going white and tray nearly breaking from having to restrain herself from bashing the pretty face in with a fist.

Ellie Williams had shrugged in a way that made her blood boil under her tanned, olive skin.

"Because you're pretty, and I really like you Dina."

The altercation still made her saliva turn sour in her mouth. She was used of people pinning over her. Like Ellie had said, she was pretty. It was a well known fact. Since she had broken up with Jesse one month ago, boys were linning up in the hopes of being her new boyfriend.

But the bostonian girl was at the very very very bottom of that list. Dina'd rather eat dog shit than sharing space with her and breathing the same air.

"What is she doing ?" Muttered a very handsome blonde young man from across Dina's seat, watching as the black haired beauty furiously sipped into her juice's box, squeezing it beyond recognition and mumbling something under her breath about stupid red hair and dumb looking green eyes.

Jesse shrugged as he ate his cheap, cafeteria fried french fries.

"Dunno. I think she's thinking about that girl again."

"Who, Williams ? She haven't let that go, yet ?"

"Nope." He shook her head, amused by his friend's violence over the wrapping of a poor chocolate flavored energy bar. "She hate the girl's gut."

"And they're in the same class. Aren't you guys going to that museum, next week ?" The boy asked, tapping his finger on his battered phone.

Jesse looked up from his plate to look at his friend Shawn, ignoring his ex's angry muffled rambling before him.

"Yeah, why ?"

"Better keep watch on tiger, then. Would be a shame if something was to happen between the two."

Dina was too preoccupied by her vile depiction of Ellie's head with her pudding to listen to the two boys in front of her. She only interrupted because she felt something burn the skin of her shirt clad back. She noticed Ellie from a few tables away, eating alone as usual. The auburn girl stared at her and winked with a charming smile. The same smile that had put many girls at her feet in the past.

The little mother fucker actually winked at her. Who did she think she was ?

"Fucking... dumb... shit..." She groaned, stabbing the face of the girl in her vanilla pudding.

"Sheesh Dina, you look so joyful this morning." Jesse chiped, eyebrow shooting in the air at the display of violence. "What did that pudding ever do to you?"

"Shut up Jesse, that doesn't concern you." She said iratedly, looking back once more to see the green eyed girl focused on some study book. "Just look at her, thinking she's gonna have a bigger grade than me for this museum project. "

"You're so jealous that it's almost cute." Shawn commented, finding it hard not to smile in front of such display of pettiness.

Dina snarled at him so hard her eyes almost popped out of her socket.

"You know what, guys ? Fuck you, and fuck you." She gestured to the two clowns, and left the cafeteria in big, elephant stomps.

Shawn whistled, impressed by so much anger.

"Maybe it's that time of the month?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ellie was everything Dina loathed. The whole character of Ellie Williams was a disgrace for her innocent eyes, going from the gorgeous auburn mane, to the beautifully freckled face, and down to the toned legs.

Dina hated the way she would poke her tongue out when she draws.

She hated the way her throat purrs when she sings to some stupid girl.

She hated how relaxed Ellie felt in the presence of her guitar, that she would clean religiously every day on the bleachers.

She reaaaaally hated the way she smiled, teeth barely poking out, nose scrunched and scarred brow lifted upward.

Dina could spend hours hating every single thing Ellie did.

The way she played soccer? It may keep her body muscular and attractive but she sucked at it.

The way she sang ? Yeah, maybe it was raw, and pure, and sexy, but boy were her songs boring.

The way she fought? She was nothing but an animal, agressive and loyal to her pairs.

Class ended. Dina had moved toward the back yard, not adressing a glance to the high school building behind her. Her head hurt, something heavy hang at the borders of her heart, limp and ragged.

She grinded her teeth, the floor more interesting than whatever was happening in front of her. She was still shocked of the redhead's behaviour. Always free and wild, doing whatever things that ran throught her thick head. Bouncing up and down, left and right like some hip hop dancer. Always at the tip of her feet, moving throught her day energically. It was a wonder how such a laid back but yet surexcited kid was such a loner.

No one never really befriended Ellie. People were gravitating around her like flies, but she would never smile at them, not truly. Not with her eyes.

Dina was recalled of her eyes again, green, and so, so big. 

Fuck, she hated those stupid, wondrous eyes.

She could not understand the whole purpose of Ellie. She was just there, jumping around in her life like a useless frog. Flashing her toothy smile and being all... moody around others. She couldn't understand her. Couldn't understand what shaped the girl to be who she was.

Dina didn't see the threat coming toward her. She didn't notice.

She was far too busy beating up a vague description of Ellie in her head to pay attention. She finally look up to a blurred shape of something round and white coming directly for her head. She closed her eyes out of reflex but the impact never came. There was a flapping sound and when she opened her eyes, it was to be flashed by a smirk and bright green eyes.

.

"It almost got you, uh?"

The redhead was holding a big white ball in her left hand, the ball that had threatened Dina's head. Dina seemed taken a back for a moment before she crossed her arms with an angry scowl.

"I would have caught it. I don't need your fucking help, looser."

"But of course." She answered matter of factly.

"You're such a pain. Gimme that."

She took the ball, agressively, from her hands and hurled it away before she bolted, not even turning back to see that it caught some poor fucker in the head.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Museums weren't really her thing. While she enjoyed the calm and quiet it brought, it was different when you were going with a pack of hormones filled teenagers.

Dina leaned her head against the window of the bright yellow bus, waiting for all the students to embark and for the teacher to make his stupid speech about safety in a school bus.

Next to her, Jesse was playing on his phone and talking to another one of his buddy in the seat before them, some black skinned quaterback. Scanning her surroundings, her eyes fell on a redhead, casually bouncing her head to whatever music played in her headphones. Next to her, Cat was trying to get her attention to no avail. Dina scoffed. Poor looser.

Once the bus roared to life, Dina sighed, thinking it was going to be a long, 2h30 trip. She was no big fan of road trip, it was long and penible. There was nothing to do but try to maintain conversation. 

Once in a while, she would glance back to the red headed girl few rows in front of her. Cat had given up trying to get her attention. and now she was sitting alone, scribbling something in a journal.

Dina hadn't noticed how long she had been staring at the back of the taller girl's head, until she turned to face her. Ellie seemed a bit surprised but she eventually winked at her. It made a weird feeling pool in the pit of her stomach and Dina found herself grabbing the first thing she found in her bag - some useless papers - and shooting it at her.

"Stop looking at me, creep!" Dina yelled, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks."

Ellie's smile faltered and she turned back without a word.

Dina didn't know why it bothered her so much.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Dina ignored how she was able to doze off. She had spent a rough night, turning and tossing in her bed like a fish out of water. Closing her eyes just to see a pair of green eyes staring at her from above.

Fuck she hate those eyes. Couldn't even sleep without the looser haunting her dreams.

Looking back at the innocent red head, she flipped her off even though Ellie wasn't watching.

"Will you leave that girl alone ?" Jesse sighed, tossing the ar, out of his sight. "What has she done to you?"

"She's breathing." Dina hissed, head falling into her open palm, with a cute pout only Jesse had the privilege of being a witness.

"You know Dina, if I didn't know you I'd say you're completely smitten with her." Jesse retorted in a tone that wasn't serious nor was it jocking, kind of an in between thing that Dina failed to notice.

"What?" She cried out, offended. " As if I would love such a-a -a looser. Always wearing torn clothes, and-and that stupid, horrible looking tattoo, like she's some kind of badass or something. No wonder she was never adopted. She's so damn stupid."

Dina hadn't noticed how loud she had talked, but she definitely noticed the freckled face a few rows away, hurt painted clearly on her features. Dina felt shame tug at her heart upon seeing the redhead frown and face away.

Maybe it was better this way.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

They were half way throught the museum when it happened.

Dina and Jesse were talking actively about the latest soccer game; not that Dina was really interested in sport but she had learned the basic for Jesse's sake. Around them, everyone had gone mostly quiet, already bored out of their mind.

No one had known that the driver wasn't sober. No one had known that his wife had left him the day before because of drugs problems.

No one had known that the man had suddenly crashed on the wheel.

Whatever Dina was going to say was caught in her throat as the bus violently swung on the right, causing many students to cry out in fear or pain. A quick glance at the window sent her in a catatonic stupor. The bus had crashed into a metallic fence and was swaying madly left and right, threatening to fall right down the cliff!

Dina's mind screamed to look for Jesse, or Audrey, or whatever person she could find, but every body was screaming bloody murder around her. She saw a couple of students and teachers get up to try to wake the driver up, but the bus swayed one more time on the right, causing all her classmates to tumble on the floor or against the windows. She felt Jesse's frame towering her, wrapping his body protectively around her tiny self. Frazied black eyes met his in such a state of panic it froze her words in her throat.

The boy offered her a comforting smile before the vehicle finally left the road and crashed down the cliff in a spectacle of screams and fear.

Something slammed hard on the back of her head and the world became a blurring darkness.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Dina woke up to something tickling the side of her head. Black spots danced in the corners of her sight, head pounding with the mother of all migraines. She felt dazzed, like she was living a dream, barely conscious yet awake. Her body was a shell of pain and she stiffened as a smell of death and shit caught her nostrils off guard.

She grunted, coughed as a thin veil of smoke entered her lungs.

What happened ?

Her mind was barely able to function, it was as if someone had turned it off without her conscent.

Dina blinked the blurriness away and her eyes took on a haunted look at the vision of horror in front of her. Words weren't strong enough to describe the gut wrenching sight.

Corpses. Corpses everywhere, falling limply from the upside down ceilling, or slumped against each other, or laying lifeless of the floor.

And there was blood, blood everywhere. On the seats, on the bodies, on her hands. So much blood and gore, Dina would have vomited her gut out if she had any strenght left.

"Jesse..." she whispered weakly, looking around in fascinated terror.

Dina was hanging upside down, lower body stuck between two seats that had been torn off from their base and had crumpled against each others. Her head and arms hang loosely in the air, and she felt dizzy from the blood that had gone right to her head.

The scene before her seemed to have been taken from an horror movie. The front of the bus had dug violently into the rough earth, destroying everything and everyone who were in the front row. Half the seats had been torn off and propulsed from the vehicle, the other half were still securely vissed on the upside down floor.

"Jesse?" Dina called, a bit louder. "Anyone?"

Everything was dead silent. Not a single sound was coming from her peers.

Dina's tears burned on their way down. She pressed her lips togheter, making them all but disappear. Her face grew ashen and desperation etched its way into every crease.

"Hello?" She called out, throat raw and lips dry with blood. "Oh my god, oh my god... oh shit- oh god."

They were dead. Everybody was dead. She called for Jesse one more time, heart racing and aching,

And then, she spotted him. Laying down a few meters before her, head snapped to the side in a unnatural angle.

Tears prickled, and she was for a moment unable to think clearly or focus on anything but the fright stretched on the boy's face second before he met his demise.

"Jesse... Jess-oh no, Jesse..." she cried, face stricken by sorrow and doom.

She didn't know for how long she cried, yelling out help and cries into the smoke and death filled air and for a moment, she wondered why she wasn't dead either. She should have died with everybody else. With Jesse, and Audrey, and Ellie-

Fuck. Ellie.

Dina tried to turn her head around but her neck cracked, making her wince. She felt weak and exhausted, but she knew she couldn't stay there. She had a thought for her parents and her sister, and she'd give anything to fall back into their arms right now.

She tried moving her legs, dread setting at the pit of her stomach at the idea of being crippled or something, but everything seemed to be functionning correctly. She was just stuck. And it was getting real uncomfortable. She shimmied her legs, grunted as a pain shot throught her leg directly into her damaged brain. Spots danced in front of her eyes and she considered, for a quick second, giving up and letting death take her.

"Fuck...fu-fuck."

She worked the muscles in the tummy and bended her body to look at where her legs were painfully stuck. Using all the strenght left in her arms, she pushed on one of the seat with all her remaining strenght. She gasped in joy when it finally let go, only to shrieck as her body was sent pummeling on the floor of bodies, head first. She let out a moan of deep pain as she clutched her head and cried again, but her jaw trembled in fear, making it hard to speak or whimper.

Part of her believed she had fallen asleep in the bus and was living throught an horrible nightmare. But the pain felt too real to not be able to make the difference.

It only took her a minute to discover she was actually laying on a mass of bodies. A gluttural scream left her parched throat, standing up so quickly her head almost popped out of its socket. She took a couple of steps back to stand on actual roof turned floor and looked at the corpse of the bus, nostrils flaring and breathing labored. Many had died from a broken neck, others had been crushed under seats or metal parts of the bus. One poor fucker had his neck stabbed by a shard of glass, making the blood splutter on the bodies of its friends.

Dina couldn't stop the bile from coming out in big gross spurts.


	2. Chapter 2

Dina had spend a long time in the back of the bus, crunching until her back hurt, head tucked tight between her arms. She rocked herself forward and backward, tears had dried up on her bloody cheek. Sobs had racked her body to the point of physical exhaustion.

She was in too much pain and grief to move. What was the point, anyway ? She didn't know where she was, her phone had no bar and all of her friends were dead. Her leg ached from a bleeding wound she had not dared to look at. Her nose was bloody and she had a deep scratch on her face that had stopped bleeding only recently.

Around her, silence stung at her ears. Flies started to buzz around the bodies, attracted by the smell of death. Dina's mind had gone numb, like she had shot heroin right into her blood stream. Her eyes kept looking at every corner of the corpses filled bus, taking it in every face and trying to put a name on it despite the wounds and zombie like stare. She kept looking at Jesse's lifeless body, urging, pleading for the boy to wake up and hug her.

The girl was about to fall back on a full bloomed spams of cries until she heard something and she was back on her feet in less than a second.

"Hello ? Is someone alive?" She asked to no one in particular, heart pounding in her chest and head.

She perked her ears and there it was, near the front row. It waslow, raw and weak, like a grunt, not even a whimper. Someone was alive ! She wasn't alone !

Bouncing back with renewed energy, she bolted forward, careful not to step on any of her fallen comrades. She had grown a bit accustomed to the stench and gruesome sight, but it still tore at her heart strings.

Dust and dirt clawed at her throat, making her head feels funny and her throat painful. She made a mental note to look for water after she found source of the noise.

In her panic like state, her foot caught the leg of a deceased student, and despite her attempt at staying on her feet, she was sent crashing on the floor. All air left her body, her headache was amplified by the sudden rush of blood, making her vision go blurry.

"Fuck... fuck... I'm not dying in this fucking place!"

She put her legs under her and prepared herself to stand up but her eyes caught movement a few feet in front of her. She widened as relied washed over her.

Someone was really alive!

"Hey." She called out, crawling toward the movement. " I'm here, I'm here."

Right before the bus had plumbed into the ground, thus literally destroying the frontal part of the fucking bus, benches had accumulated, tossed against its others like some piece of art, torn, freyed and splattered in fresh blood. The bile threatened to come back, but she didn't lost her shit this time. Evey thought, every nerve, every muscle of her body was concentrated on this newfound courage.

She moved toward the broken benches, and that's when she saw it - covered in blood and bruises, an hand was scratching at the floor, nails rattling desperately at the roof turned floor, desperate to make some kind of noise to get her attention. Dina couldn't see the rest of the body as it was crushed under the weight of a dozen bus seats.

Shit.

"Don't move, okay? I'm gonna lift it."

Dina tried to move the mountain of seats, but her arms screamed in pain as she did so. She let it go with a grunt, and winced when it fell back on the body beneath it, making the voice whimper in suffering.

Okay, so it was a girl. 

Maybe it was Ellie.

The thought only brought more relief and and a bit of peace of mind. Ellie, maybe she was alive.

"I'm sorry, I'm gonna get you out, just... don't move."

She stood up and scratched her head anxiously, trying to come up with a solution. The stench was making it hard to focus on anything and her legs trembled from standing.

She licked her lips in stress and grabbed again for the nearest broken seat. She decided to go slower this and remove them one by one, but they were still pretty heavy and her heart sank at the thought of the pain the teenager was going throught under them.

She was able to remove one of the seat that was slicked with blood. Dina gagged at the sight of so much damn blood, but she didn't stop. Soon, more of the arm was free, and Dina noticed the torn to shred red flannel covering the said arm. She furrowed her brow and her heart started to race.

"Ellie?" She called, panting from the physical work.

There was a small grunt, and the arm moved a bit across the floor.

Dina cursed and quickened the pace, not caring when her leg had started to bleed again, and not caring if her lungs felt on fire. She had to save her.

Dina removed the seats one by one, shouting words of encouragement to the girl pinned the weight of the furnitures.

She pushed one last seat out of the wah and looked down at the face and torso she had freed.

Ellie was laying on her stomach, covered in thick and dark blood. The left side of her face was nothing but a canvas of blood and bruises. Dirt was coating her skin and clothes, making the disheveled girl almost unrecognizable.

Ellie weakly looked up from her place on the floor.

"H-hey, fancy seeing you here." She muttered with a broken and husky voice.

"Oh my god Ellie, are you okay?" Dina questionned, worry twisting her face as she grabbed one of the hand that laid limply. "Oh my god, you're not okay!" She croacked, watching as blood continued to pour from her back. Something seemed to poke out of one of the seat and pierce directly into her back.

"I'm-I'm fine." She said, but it was so weak and not Ellie-like.

"Oh my god, wait, I'm gonna lift it-"

"Ow!ow, no!"

"Wait, just-"

"Aw, fuck it hurts, wait-wait-"

"Stop moving, I'm trying to-"

"Fuck!" Ellie growled as Dina tried to move the seats on the rest of her body.

In panic, Dina let it fall back on Ellie who whimpered at the motion.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I'm so useless, oh my god, what must I do?" She took her head in her hands, watching the poor girl crushed.

"Just don't... do that," Ellie pleaded, raising her bloody hand in a stop motion.

Dina fell on her knees, eyes restless as they landed on every parcel of being that was Ellie.

"B-b-but we can't l-leave it there, it-it's crushing you!"

"Please, let-let just wait for the t-the police and the medic. Yeah?" Ellie pleaded, her untouched cheek scratching against the floor as she talked.

"Oh my god, Ellie...! Wait-"

Dina looked around frenetically and her eyes fell on a piece of fabric. She yanked it off from wherever it was coming from and rolled it neatly before easing Ellie's head onto it.

"There, should be more comfortable."

Ellie mumbled something that she didn't caught. Dina was desesperally trying to regain control of her emotions. Fuck, she was only seventeen. She was too young for this kind of problem!

"Are you okay under there?" She still asked, more to reassure herself than anything.

Ellie grunted, shifting her position slightly. "Well, something is stabbing into my back. Deep enough that I can't move." She said with a pain laced voice. "It r-really sucks."

"You're not gonna die on me, right ?" 

"Isn't it what you want ?"

Dina closed her eyes and shook her head.

"You're an asshole, and-and a looser. But I fucking don't want you to die, okay?"

Ellie let out a small chuckle, but immediatly winced and rested her head on the clothe Dina had fetched for her. "Yeah..."

"I'm gonna take a look outside, okay? Somebody m-must have heard the crash, o-or seen it, stay there, okay?

"Not moving." Ellie smiled, albeit weakly.

Dina then stood up and walked carefully by one of the broken windows, squeezing her way throught it.

The sight froze the blood in her veins.

There was nothing but a scenery of mud, sand and trees.

Turning to face the actual cliff, she gasped in fascination upon seeing that monstrous cliff they have fallen from and her hands instinctively reached for her aching head. There was no way they should have survived that. It was impossible. No wonder the bus looked like it came from a painting of Picasso.

There was no one. No house, no route, no store, no nothing.

She sat on the muddy ground, letting the tears fall down once again. It was crazy, the situation was just... crazy, there was no other words to describe it.

And inside, there was someone pinned under a mess of shits and she was slowly bleeding out. She needed to find a way to free her.

But then what ? Dina knew she needed to stop the bleeding somehow, but she didn't know if removing the foreign object would kill her even more quickly. She rubbed her scalp furiously and let out a frustrated growl. 

Okay, okay, she needed to focus. Fuck. Jesse would know what to do.

Okay. First thing first, she needed to assess her injuries.

She slowly pulled the leg of her jeans up, wincing as it rubbed against dry blood. She sighed in relief. It was just a bad cut. Would definitely need stitches but the blood had coaguled around it. The scratch on her forehead didn't seem too bad either. She got lucky.

Not like Ellie.

Anxiety crept back like a snake at the thought and she went back inside, the stench of death becoming more and more bearable with time.

Ellie haven't moved, painfully sprawled on her belly, unable to move.

Dina felt her heart sinks.

"Are you still there, Ellie?" Dina inquired, taking her cold hand in her warm one.

"Still alive." She coughed, head falling back on the clothe.

"Please Ellie, tell me, how bad is the pain? Can you breath ? Can you breath good?"

A mask of pain took over Ellie's face for a second before she replied.

"Well, I w-wouldn't call it good, but I can breath." She gasped, taking one deep, labored inhalation. "The pain is pretty bad.I can't even feel my legs."

"This is bad... But I can't leave you there. We need to remove it."

"Why don't you just go? I'll be fine." Ellie croacked, lifting her swollen eyes towards her.

"No! I'm not leaving you there, Ellie." Dina was firm on her decision. The idea of leaving the girl here to slowly bleed out was unfanthomable.

Ellie let out an ironic chuckle.

"No one is waiting for me at home, Dina. I'm alone. I'm, uh... how did you call it ? Group home rat?"

Dina winced at her own words.

Yeah.

She had said that.

"I... I shouldn't have said it..." she told her, full of regret. " I didn't think it."

Ellie furrowed her brow, confused. Dina found her so freaking adorable despite the blood and gore, she wanted to hug the fuck out of her.

She didn't.

"Then why did you say it ?"

The words brought a whimper and strained breath from the girl, making the black haired stiffen.

"Look, we need to move you out of there, okay ? I know it will hurt but you're going to die under it."

"Well, now that you say it... I'd stretch my legs a bit." She joked.

"My god Ellie, now is not the time for jokes ! Aren't you scared of dying ?!?" Dina watched her, disbelief written all over her face.

Watching Ellie was like opening a mysterious box. She had spent a long time watching the girl, loving/hating everything she did. But she had never bonded with her, never took time to understand her character.

How could she joke like that ?

Dina scanned her face, but apart for the pain, the teenager didn't look scared, just tired.

There was not an ounce of fear on her face.

"Are you okay?" Ellie suddenly asked, pointing to her leg.

Dina blinked, didn't know what to answer. This dumbass had been stabbed in the back by God knows what, and she asked about her leg.

She was such a dumbass.

"Come on looser, take a big breath, I'm gonna lift it. When you can, crawl towards me, okay?"

"O-okay." She breathed out, slowly pushing her hands from underneath her.

Dina took a deep breath too and expired, concentrating.

Okay, let's do this.

Her arms shook as she lifted the last seat blocking Ellie's freedom.

She closed her eyes tightly when Ellie started to groan, grunt and snivel when whatever was stuck in her back started to pull out with the seat lifting.

"Go, go." Dina urged, arms amd knees threatening to give out.

Ellie started to crawl out of her hiding place, torn clothes rubbing against the wrecks and shards of glass. When she was sure that she could drop the seat without hurting her classmate, she let go of the object and went by Ellie's side. Her flannel and shirt had been shredded in the accident, leaving the skin of her shoulder and back almost completely uncovered, clothes barely holding by a thread.

Ellie coughed and took a couples of deep breaths now that her ribs weren't crushed anymore.

"Oh man." She let out, scoffing lightly.

"Oh fuck, Ellie, don't move, I-I gotta find something to stop t-the b-b-bleeding." She stammered, looking at the bloody back like it was going to sewn itself shut.

Her hazel eyes fell on the clothe she had previously given Ellie for her head. She took it in her own injured hands and tore open what was left of the redhead's clothes before applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

"Hmm, fuck Dina, it hurts-"

"I know, I know, just hold on, okay?" She pleaded, voice soft as Ellie scratched at the floor to distract her from the ache.

Dina tried to control her breathing, but the clothe was becoming red real fast, and Ellie's skin paled by the minute. She wanted to cry. She didn't know what to do, everybody was dead, and-

"Everybody is dead..." she muttered, as if she suddenly came to the realisation of the situation. "They're all dead, but us, Ellie..."

The voice was low, but Ellie heard it throught her hazed mind.

"Yeah..." she said slowly, trying to take the scene of her fallen classmates in but failing as conscience started to leave her.

"Hey? Hey-hey, wake up." Dina tapped lightly on the undamaged cheek. "Don't sleep."

"I'm so tired, D." Ellie mumbled, closing her eyes despite the protests.

"Stay awake, stay awake for me, okay?" Dina's voice was broken, strained, urging. Her pupils were dilated, eyes widened so big it almost hurt the muscles around it.

Ellie felt the other woman take her hand and squeeze it softly.

"Okay, yeah." She agreed, forcing her eyes open for her.

"Fucking great Ellie, it's good. Can you stand ?"

"Do I have to? She complained, dreading having to try and stand.

"Yes, we need to get you out of-of... this." She finished with a frozen look of pure gut wrenching fright.

Ellie nodded wordlessly and, helped by Dina still holding onto the crimsom tainted fabric, pushed her feet underneath her, a growl of pain escaping her lips as she went almost crashing on the hard ground. Dina had held onto her for dear life, not wanting the girl to hurt herself even more.

"Fine, uh?" She breathed out quickly, panting from the effort, sweat veiling her face like a second skin.

"Hehe." Ellie's laught sounded more like a throaty sigh than anything, and her shit eating grin was twisted into one of suffering.

Because of the blood flow returning to her legs, Ellie was able to limp with Dina toward an exit. The hazel eyed young woman grinded her teeth from the exhaustion. All she wanted right now was to pass out and forget her mind blowing headache.

Her foot caught something and she never knew what it was, because the fall pummeled her and Ellie onto the wet ground, both gasping and grunting at the shock and pain. 

Dina helped herself up slowly, trying to find back the breath that had been knocked out of her lungs seconds earlier. She felt drained, emotionally and physically.

But Ellie needed her.

She cautiously made her way back to where Ellie had fallen, three meters away. Her chest ached at the sight of her usually strong classmate in such a bad shape.

She's gonna die, she's gonna die, she's not-, she's gonna die, no she's not-, yes she is.

The thoughts battled in her head, contradicting each others while she worked on a plan to survive until help arrived.

"Come on Ellie." She begged, tugging on her armpits to move her, the redhead having gone completely unresponsive. "Come on Ellie, fuck!"

Her feet touched a patch of grass and she gently put Ellie down, making sure she doesnt hit her head. She turned her over and tied the clothe around her frame, still deeply worried by the bleeding.

"Here, Ellie, we're out. Smell, smell that fresh air, isn't it good?" Dina tried to ease the tension and give the poor girl the occasion to take rewarding puffs of pure air.

But Ellie didn't answer, her head resting on the side, eyes closed.

"Hey... hey! Ellie!" Dina screamed, panic setting in as fear washed over her, leaving her body ice cold and shivering.

She reached for the cheek and slapped her gently. Then harder.

But there was no aknowledgement of her part.

"Fuck, fuck." Dina cursed. "Why can't you fucking stay awake, Ellie?"

She nudged her hard and still, she slept on. Dina gave up and took her wrist to be assured that she was still breathing, dread had become a deep pit of ice in her stomach. She felt nauseous and dizzy.

She dozed off.


	3. Chapter 3

Dina woke to the sound of birds chipping joyfully in the sky. She didn't raise right away, letting the sun's warmth wash over her like a well needed hug. She closed her eyes again, ready to fall back into a peaceful slumber until a cough took her out of her daze.

Fuck. Ellie!

Dina was suddenly wide awake and looking at the body next to her. Ellie had yet to awoke but the soft snore coming from her mouth relaxed the muscles in Dina's body. She brought her hand to her head, wondering if maybe she suffered from a concission. It hurt so much, and felt dizzy, but nothing she couldn't handle. Not like she had any choice in the matter.

Slowly, she peeled away the cloth that protected the redhead's injury, and grimaced upon seeing the sliced open skin covered in angry red marks. Small trickles of blood still dripped from it, dying her sides of a crimson color.

She sighed and looked around. Maybe that if she checked the students' bags, she would find tape, or something, to attempt at closing the gap in the damaged skin.

Shoulders still heavy from her exhaustion caused sleep, she made her way back in the bus, the stench of crap and decay overloading all her senses. She hazily checked every bag she could put her hands on, finally finding what she was looking for in one black and gray backpack. Black tape. She had no idea what the student wanted to do with it, but it didn't matter, it would help her well.

She trotted back to the sleeping girl and, careful not to wake her, she put the cloth back on her wound and taped the gap shut. It was cheap, but it would have to do for now.

Sitting back, she looked longingly at the face she had admired and loathed from afar.

She remembered the first time she had met Ellie. The girl was so mysterious, pushing everyone away, keeping to herself. Dina had shot her a wide smile the first time she saw her, and it must have strucked something in the taller girl's heart because from that point on, Ellie had made sure to always smile brightly at her.

Time had passed and before she could stop it, feelings had blossomed in her chest. Feelings for an handsome, lanky, aloof girl.

But her mom was the worst homophobe she had ever met, and Dina had to hide her feelings under a thick wall of hate and derision. She had told herself that she would try to hate the girl, and maybe she would stop loving her.

Flashnews.

She didn't.

And now, Ellie was between death and life, and there was nothing more that she could do.

After another long, broken sigh, she stood up and made her way to a mostly clean pool of water. As she washed the blood on her, she started to wonder how long until help arrived. She looked up at the cliff, and at the broken fence. Surely, someone would notice, right ?

She feared having to spent the night here. With no food or water, as it was prohibited in the bus. Fear settled in her stomach and made her eyes water. She wanted to go home so bad.

"Hmm..."

Dina's head snapped to the side, and saw her comrade trying to sit fully against a tree, panting and coughing as she did so.

"Hey, hey, easy." Dina worriedly called out, rushing over to help her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit." She replied, bringing an hand to her face to feel the caked dry blood on her skin.

"Here, let me help you get cleaned up, yeah?"

She didn't wait for her to answer. She tore a small piece of her pink shirt and let it sit in the water for a few seconds before bringing it softly on Ellie's face, who kept staring at Dina throught half lidded eyes.

"You're staring." Dina quipped, a small, amused smile painted on her lips.

"I know." Ellie muttered, eyes dropping to her lips and back at her with want.

Dina tried to ignore the gaze as she worked on washing the blood off, cautious as to not hurt her bruises.

She passed the damp cloth on her forehead, then down to the curve of her doll shaped nose. She brushed past her full lips and rubbed the chin clean.

Even caked in blood, Ellie was a gorgeous piece of human being.

Her auburn hair were out of its bun and her tattered clothes gave her perfect view of her front, shoulders and a part of her toned stomach. But Ellie didn't seem to mind, probably in too much pain and fatigue to bring herself to care.

"You're beautiful." Ellie said tiredly, bringing a bloody hand to tuck one strand of hair away from her face.

"You're impossible." Dina scoffed, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks.

Ellie only smiled as she cleaned her hands and every bit of skin she could find. When she was done, she sat next to the injured young woman, body stiff and tense.

They both sat in silence for a while, looking at the bus poking out of the earth like the battered ribs of a dead whale. Dead and forgotten. Above their head, birds chipped, unaware of the tragedy under their wings.

"It's gonna be ok, D." Ellie said, rubbing her face. "They'll come for us."

"I don't know. I'm just... really tired and-and I keep seeing weird shapes in front of my eyes. I'm really dizzy too."

This time, Ellie turned to face her and slowly lifted her hand to brush her tumb across the cut on the young teenager's forehead.

"You might have a concussion." She said, voice husky and raspy from her dry throat. "Take it easy, yeah?"

Dina nodded wordlessly and looked over to the horizon, wondering how much time had passed since the accident. But it was definitely afternoon now.

"I'm starting to get thirsty." Dina blurted out.

Ellie shifted her weight a bit, wincing as she did so. "Yeah, same."

"How bad is the pain?" Dina's voice was full of concerns and so, so soft, it made the orphaned girl grin slightly.

"Pretty bad, but better than before. Thank you, D. You saved me."

"Yeah, well, we're not out of the woods yet." She responded, dismissing Ellie's praises.

"I know, I just wanted to let you know."

They went back to a peaceful silence. Ellie closed her eyes and smelled the fresh air. The thirst was becoming hard to ignore so she decided another nap wouldn' hurt.

Soon enough, she felt a weight leaning on her left side and she turned her head to see Dina who had put her head on her shoulder. Ellie smiled lovingly at that and rested her cheek on the top of the black curled hair.

Both needed reassurance at this moment so they let each others be the hug that they needed, warmth spreading throught their clothes and body.

Sun had started to set over the horizon and Ellie felt Dina slowly shake her head. Ellie started to mindlessly scratch at the scalp to calm the woman down.

"What's wrong?" Ellie sounded exhausted, but so did Dina.

"They're not coming. No one is coming."

She rubbed her hands on her torn and dirty jeans. The air had grown colder as the hours went by, and she shivered. She laughed sarcastically, tone sharp and dry. 

"I'm in pain, and-and hungry and thirsty and no one's fucking coming."

"Dina... it's gonna be alright..." Ellie tried to reassure her, but she'd be lying if she said she believed her own words. But she was never telling her that. "Did you check inside for food or bottles of water?"

"No..." Dina ran an hand throught her cheek to wipe away the tears. "I just figured no one brought anything since it was prohibited.

Ellie let out a sharp laught that would have been very nice for Dina to hear if if wasn't laced by pain.

"And since when do students listen to the teachers?"²

Dina was about to reply but then, it dawned on her: Ellie was right. Someone must have brought something.

"Right." She nodded." I don't really want to, but I'll go check."

"Wait, I-I can go." Ellie offered, eyes squinting as she tried to stand up, only to fall back on her ass in a pained grunt.

"Oh no you don't, you sit your pretty ass over there."

"My what??"

Dina didn't answer, skin redder than a tomato. She made her way to the bus, nose once again attacked by the stench. It horrified her to have to search and touch her classmates, but she needed water. And food. And maybe a blanket or something as it was getting chillier.

Careful not to step on anyone, she stopped in front of Jesse, his dead eyes looking straight at her, and she misses the light that always shone on him. He was her ex, her best friend, her confident.

"I'm so sorry Jesse." She sobbed. " I wish you were still... there."

She kept staring at Jesse with wet eyes. He was there, his body and favorite jacket was there. But at the same time... he wasn't, and it brought a hollow feeling in her body. Her best friend had died. And it was killing her. 

If she wished on her lucky stars, maybe she would go home and have ptsd for the rest of her life. Yeah, that's a plan. This was definitely whatis going to happen.

"Okay, okay, you can do it Dina... they're just your dead friends..."

She looked around for anything that could quench their need for water and food, but so far, all she was able to scavenge was broken, chocolate cookies from a backpack. There was nothing to drink or to cover themselves for the night.

Fuck.

She came back outside with a blank face, fatigue setting in again after her little adventure in the bus. Her leg throbbed as she padded to Ellie, sliding down next to her. The redhead opened her swollen eyes. Dina noticed with worries that her skin had paled a bit and she checked her forehead for a fever.

"You holding on?' Dina asked.

"Still alive. What's this?"

"Cookies. This is all I could find." She explained, looking down at the poor excuse of a meal.

If Ellie was disappointed, she didn't show it and dug in the bag for an handful of broken chocolate chips cookies. "Hmf. Not bad. Milk would have been nice."

"Yeah, well, you're free to go and check yourself but I hardly doubt anyone brought any milk."

Dina brought a couples into her mouth, melting under the sweet taste. This was probably the best part of her day so far.

"Are they... really dead?" Ellie asked finally, checking her face for an answer.

Dina nodded, eyes gazing over at the thought of the carnage inside.

"Yeah." She sighed, trying to wipe those images out of her head. 

"Even Jesse?"

Dina turned to face her with confusion. "How did you know that Jesse was my friend?"

Ellie smirked and looked down at her jeans, hand pressing over her probably broken ribs.

"I was always looking at you." She admitted, a slight blush on her face.

"You did?" Dina felt the need to ask, but she already knew.

Everytimes she would turn, Ellie would be somewhere in her scenery, smiling at her with that stupid grin. It would make her blush, and she'd shoot something nasty to the girl who only shrugged.

"Yeah. I like you, Dina."

"Gathered as much." Dina thought back on that revelation, and how flustered she was and how she had been struggling not to jump into her arms.

"I'm... sorry if I had made you uncomfortable." Ellie spoke, sharing a glance with her. "I've been told I'm too direct. " she coughed, hissed as pain shot throught her nerves. "Fucked my chances with a lot of families"

"Was it... hard?" Her crush inquired, eagerly wanting to learn more about her and to forget the shit they were dealing with.

"Well, it wasn't easy. I'm sure there's good families out there, genuinely wanting to take a kid in. But they're generally pretty youngs. Teenagers our age end up with shitty foster parents. They're usually in it for the money and to have a slave around."

Dina frowned and gazed at the redhead with a newfound respect.

"It must have been so hard. Did you..." she trailed, hesitant.

"Yes, I did end up in shitty places." Ellie licked her lips, wetting them a bit and for a moment, she flicked a sad smile, as she was recalled of some secrets memories in her head. "My last place had this guy, David. He was like, the brother of the woman living there. They weren't too bad, they left me live my life most of the time. So yeah, the brother was living there and he-"

She cut herself, her eyes squinted and she didn't seem so sure about confessing about it anymore. Seeing as she didn't continue, Dina took her hand in hers and was cautious as she said "did he... touch you?" Horrified by the idea, she started caressing the much bigger hand, rubbing it softly with her tumb. Ellie's eyes glanced down at their hand and bit her lip wordlessly. There was a brief smile on the pale face, but it turned upside down in a single second, like a fleeting tought. She looked back at her, chewing the words in her mouth.

"Yeah, he did. They took me out and I was transfered to a new group home in Jackson. It was last year."

"Fuck, Ellie...." Dina gasped sharply. "Fuck. I'm so sorry, I-"

"N-no, it's not your fault. He d-"

"No, not that. I'm so sorry I've been an ass to you." Dina looked back at the bus to avoid the other girl's stare. "Like, really sorry. I never meant anything I said."

"Dina, it's okay-"

"It's not, Ellie! I hurt you! I know I did and- fuck, I feel so shitty about it." Dina ran her hand into her disheveled hair, searching for something to say to try and make amends.

Ellie said nothing, slumping tiredly against the tree's trunk, looking up to see the darkening sky.

"Then why do you hate me ?" She dared to ask, almost shyly.

Dina shook her head. "I don't hate you, Ellie."

Dina wrapped her hands around both of her hands and brought her to her mouth, kissing them gently. Ellie's eyes widened and she stared stupidly at her, face growing red by the second. 

Dina smiled triumphly at seeing the courageous girl in such a state of embarassment.

"So... wh-wha-at does this mean?" She stammered, struggling to put the words in the good order.

"Fuck, Ellie. I'm trying to say that I like you too! I've... been for a couple of months. I was just... I mean, after that I...I don't know if we're gonna live and-and-"

She rambled on, doing wide gestures with her arms and hands, but Ellie just looked at her with interrogation.

"You... like me?" Ellie asked her, green eyes meeting here, and fuck, Dina would die for those eyes.

"I..." Dina felt like a deer caught in headlights. She didn't know what pushed her to admit all those words, but she couldn't go back on it now. And there was something about seeing the taller girl so injured that strucked a chord in her heart. She just wanted to be close to her and feel safe. "Yeah, I-I do." The shy words left her throat before she could stop them, and she forced herself to read Ellie's eyes instead for a sign of rejection or acceptance.

Ellie said nothing, lost in her own thoughts. She was recalling every of her altercation with the black haired girl, and none of them were specially happy.

"Then why act like such an ass?"

There it was, the hidden, covered hurt that Ellie had been trying to sugarcoat for so long. Ellie didn't show it much, but the way the girl had always talked to her had hurt her so much. It was hard to leave school bitter and go to a home life even more depressing.

"I..." Getting the words out proved harder than she thought, but Ellie deserved some answers as to why she had spent the last months treating the teenager like she was some kind of nature's mistake. Which she was not, on the contrary. "My mom, well, my mom and dad, they're... pretty conformists. They, uh- hate homosexuality of any kind and I-I don't know, I... I had those weird feelings for you and-and I was just kind of scared they'd find out? I was afraid of being thrown out or something?" Dina tried to ignore Ellie's eyes, and focus instead on what she wanted to say. "So I told myself that maybe I could force myself to hate you. I know it's stupid a-and I hurt your feelings, but I didn't know what else to do. I'm so sorry Ellie."

Dina stared into her eyes in shame, not wanting to hide from Ellie anymore. This girl held more secrets than the pandora box, and she was ready to open it. Ellie opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out, only a nervous laught. "Wow" she only said with a smile that made Dina's body tingle all over.

Before she could say anything else, Dina jumped on all four and pressed her lips against the coppery tasting cold ones of the auburn haired girl. Ellie's eyes widened, but the kiss was so rough and agressive and passionnate, she had no choice but to answer it gingerly, hands lifting to cradle Dina's jaw and cheek. Dina pulled away to take a deep breath, but Ellie was on her instantly, pecking at her lips like she had always wanted to do. Dina closed her eyes, hands moving to the girl's naked shoulders and broken ribs, earning her a painful gasp.

"Oh shit, sorry, are you okay ?" Dina asked in urgency, staring at the bruises on her skin, with something that seemed to poke out of it.

Her heart sank at the bottom of her buterflies filled stomach.

"I'm fine." She answered, but Dina knew she was lying.

Finding nothing to say, Dina closed the gap betweem them, wrapping the taller girl around her arms and resting her cheek against her shoulder.

"Man, I've wanted to kiss you and hold you for so long... not how I imagined it would go." Ellie joked but her friend was already dozing off on her shoulder and Ellie decided to join her as fatigue had been clawing at her since she woke up.

Hours passed without a sign of an helicopter or a plane or any kind of help. The two teenagers spent their time slipping in and out of inconscience, stomach empty and throat so dry from dehydratation. Dina had tried to drink from the puddle but she was stopped by Ellie who had told her about boiling the water first. Then, they had wanted to make a fire but they sucked at it, and they couldn't find any lighter.

They spent the chilly night cuddled togheter.


End file.
